Getting to Know the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program

Today Kim Hegwood will be talking to Greg Shelley. Greg is the Program Manager for the Harris County Long-term Care Ombudsman Program at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth, which is provided in collaboration with the Harris County Area Agency on Aging.  He has over ten years of service with the ombudsman program, contributing as a volunteer initially and serving six years as the volunteer coordinator and staff ombudsman for Harris County. He later spent two years with the Houston-Galveston Area Council serving as a staff ombudsman covering Fort Bend and Waller Counties and returned to lead the program in Harris County in November of 2017.

During his time as an ombudsman, he has helped resolve approximately a thousand cases and provided nearly 10,000 consultations to individuals regarding a wide range of topics related to resident rights and care in LTC settings.  He has given presentations on the local, state, and national levels involving the ombudsman program and role, volunteer recruitment and retention, and various advocacy approaches. He also provides nursing home and assisted living staff in-service training in Harris County.

Today the conversation will be around nursing homes, assisted living, and the Ombudsman program during this pandemic.

1. Residents and families need to restore rights to visitation

2. Ombudsmen are visiting nursing homes again

3. Flu shots are strongly encouraged

4. COVID-19 transmission in nursing homes appears to parallel community spread

Find out more about the Ombudsman program.

https://apps.hhs.texas.gov/news_info/ombudsman/

https://nursing.uth.edu/coa/ombudsman/ombuds_volunteers.htm

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